The San Diego County Public Defender's office is an agency of the
government of San Diego County, California
The Government of San Diego County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution, California law, and the Charter of the County of San Diego. Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of county govern ...
. It provides legal assistance to individuals charged with a crime in state court who are financially unable to retain private counsel. The office consists of the Primary Public Defender, the Alternate Public Defender, the Office of Assigned Counsel & the Multiple Conflicts Office. Mental health and juvenile court matters are handled by special units within the divisions.
Courts within their jurisdiction include the San Diego Superior Court, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District, and the California Supreme Court. The San Diego County District Attorney and the San Diego City Attorney prosecute alleged felony and
misdemeanor
A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...
violations of California
state law State law refers to the law of a federated state, as distinguished from the law of the federation of which it is a part. It is used when the constituent components of a federation are themselves called states. Federations made up of provinces, cant ...
that occur within the jurisdiction of San Diego County. Alleged federal law violations by indigent defendants are defended by the Federal Defenders of San Diego Inc.
History
The San Diego County Public Defender's Office was established in 1988 by a San Diego County resolution. The Alternate Public Defender was established by the Board of Supervisors in 1990. In 2005, the Multiple Conflicts Office - Major Cases (MCO) was created to represent people who are charged with complicated and serious cases throughout San Diego County and who are financially unable to retain private counsel. In 2009, the County of San Diego consolidated separate
indigent defense
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...
offices—Public Defender, Alternate Public Defender, Office of Assigned Counsel, Juvenile Delinquency & Multiple Conflict Office—into one office. The office formed a Public Defender Community Outreach Program that strives to connect with partners in San Diego communities to enrich the lives of those less fortunate and assist in securing equal access to justice.
In 1994, San Diego County Public Defenders Kathleen Coyne and Susan Clemens were awarded Public Defender of the Year by the California Public Defender's Association for their work defending Dale Akiki in the
Faith Chapel Church ritual abuse case The San Diego Church ritual abuse case was a case of a developmentally disabled individual charged with child sexual abuse in 1991 as part of the satanic ritual abuse moral panic. After a 9-month trial, the accused was found not guilty by the jur ...
. Several San Diego County Public Defenders have gone on to become judges in
California Superior Court
Superior courts in California are the state trial courts with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a governmental agency. As mandated by t ...
.
In 2014, the office filed over 5,000 petitions—after Proposition 47 (2014)—to have felony convictions and sentences reduced.
Primary Public Defender
The San Diego County Primary Public Defender (PPD) provides the majority of indigent defense services in San Diego County. The Primary Public Defender has five offices in the county:
downtown San Diego
Downtown San Diego is the city center of San Diego, California, the eighth largest city in the United States. In 2010, the Centre City area had a population of more than 28,000. Downtown San Diego serves as the cultural and financial center and ...
The office has faced multiple cases of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and unethical conduct. Most recently the office settled two such cases for 3.8 million dollars.https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/story/2023-03-07/county-settles-lawsuit-against-office-of-public-defender
Alternate Public Defender
The APD is responsible for defending those cases where the Primary Public Defender has a conflict of interest or is unable to defend the individual for various reasons. The Office of the Alternate Public Defender has two divisions. The Adult Criminal Division—operating out of all APD locations—represents indigent persons accused of a crime. The Juvenile Delinquency Division—out of
Kearny Mesa
Kearny Mesa is a community in the central part of San Diego, California. It is bounded by State Route 52 to the north, Interstate 805 to the west, Aero Drive to the south, and Interstate 15 to the east. Adjacent communities include Serra Mesa, C ...
—represents minors accused of truancy or criminal offenses. The Alternate Public Defender maintains offices in downtown San Diego, El Cajon, South Bay, Vista, and Kearny Mesa.
Multiple Conflicts Office - Major Cases
The Multiple Conflicts Office - Major Cases (MCO) accepts court appointments that the Public Defender and the Alternate Public Defender are unable to accept due to a
conflict of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
or other order of the court. MCO represents people who are charged with only the most complicated and serious cases throughout San Diego County. MCO attorneys possess many years of experience and training for the most serious types of criminal cases. The MCO is an independent and ethically separate division of the Department of the Public Defender and does not share client information or otherwise interact with attorneys from other divisions on the same case.
Office of Assigned Counsel
If a court finds that the PPD and APD have a
conflict of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
, then Office of Assigned Counsel (OAC) will provide the indigent
defendant
In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case.
Terminology varies from one jurisdic ...
with a private practitioner who has been pre-screened and placed on a panel managed by the OAC.
California Superior Court
Superior courts in California are the state trial courts with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a governmental agency. As mandated by t ...
El Cajon Police Department
The El Cajon Police Department (ECPD) is the municipal police agency responsible for enforcing laws, maintaining social order, and ensuring public safety within the city of El Cajon, California.
The current police chief is Mike Moulton who to ...